Trail opens as conservation group eyes network

A ribbon-cutting ceremony last month celebrated the opening of the new Pickering Creek Trail in West Pikeland Township. For the West Pikeland Land Trust, in was another big step toward its ultimate aspiration.

“Our end-goal is to conserve properties and have them be people-friendly for the residents of West Pikeland and elsewhere,” said West Pikeland Land Trust board vice-president Michael Groman. “We are securing public access to trails, and we’re trying to create a comprehensive public trail system that connects the open spaces, natural resources, prime agricultural lands and historic features of the township.”

The West Pikeland Land Trust was created in 1999, as building encroached on the area.

“That was a time when development pressures started to peak, and there was a lot of concern about losing the quality of life in West Pikeland,” Groman said. “There were quite a few residents who owned farms and were talking to the township about what they could do to preserve their properties.”

While active prior to 2007, the conservation group got a major shot in the arm that year when residents approved a key .5-percent preservation tax.

“The township chose to impose a tax on itself to help create an open-space fund and begin to ramp-up efforts to preserve land in the township,” Groman said. “It amounts to about $500,000 a year.”

The Pickering Creek Trail is part of a riparian buffer restoration project that preserves 14 acres owned by Charles and Alyssa White. It was one of the first properties the West Pikeland Land Trust focused on after the 2007 referendum was approved.

“The Whites allowed a public access trail, which we’re encouraging with all the people we work with,” Groman said. “It was right along the creek, and we just thought, ‘Let’s try to get a trail in here.’”

The process advanced when the West Pikeland Land Trust submitted an application to the local Arthur and Marjorie Miller Fund, which awards annual grants for preservation activities.

“They loved our proposal and they were willing to put some money on the table to make it happen,” Groman said. “Then we started connecting with all of our partners to make it work.”

In April, an army of volunteers descended on the land. That included a group of Montgomery School sixth-graders, who planted 212 trees.

Another area conservation group, the Natural Lands Trust, provided staff time and got volunteer firefighters to cut the trail, which can be used by walkers, bikers or those on horseback.

“That was great,” Groman said. “They had the heavy equipment, they knew how to follow the trail markings to get there, and they had great guidance from Darin Groff from the Natural Lands Trust.”

While numerous properties are being evaluated for conservation approval, the West Pikeland Land Trust expects to reach the 300 acres-saved milestone by the end of the year, with more in its sights.

“We want it to be so that you can really get a good idea of what’s happening in the township if you take a two-hour hike one day and can get from here to there pretty easily,” Gorman said.